Toyota Speedway at Irwindale

Motorsport venue
Name = Toyota Speedway at Irwindale
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Time =GMT-8
Location =Irwindale, California
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Image_caption =Irwindale Speedway in as it was prepared for the 2006 Toyota Allstar Showdown
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Opened = 1999
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Former_names = Irwindale Speedway
Events = NASCAR
Toyota All-Star Showdown
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Turns = 4
Banking = 6°, 9°, 12° (progressive)
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Toyota Speedway at Irwindale is a motorsports facility located in Irwindale, California. It features banked, paved 1/2 and 1/3 mile oval tracks. It opened on March 27, 1999, as Irwindale Speedway and held that name until Toyota purchased the naming rights to the facility in 2008. [cite news |first=Keith |last=Lair |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=An optimistic outlook |url=http://www.sgvtribune.com/sports/ci_8608328 |work=San Gabrial Valley Tribune |publisher= |date=March 17, 2008 |accessdate=2008-03-21 ] . It is currently mainly used for NASCAR Weekly Racing Series events.

Since 2003, the main 1/2 mile oval has hosted the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown. In this event, the top 30 drivers in the Grand National Division and the top 40 drivers in the Elite Division come from their respective regional tours to compete in a "best-of-the-best" race for prize money and bragging rights. The races are televised live on the SPEED Channel. It is also the home of the Turkey Night Grand Prix race, a Thanksgiving midget car racing tradition in southern California since 1934, when the race debuted at Gilmore Stadium. Among the 2005 participants were Tony Stewart, Jason Leffler, and J. J. Yeley.

1/8 mile drag racing is presented at this facility as well. The strip opened on September 29, 2001. In 2003, in cooperation with local law enforcement, Irwindale Speedway opened its own dragstrip and hosts legal drag races for street legal cars, trucks, and motorcycles. The dragstrip is proud to extinguish the "nowhere else to go" excuse used by illegal street racers, and local police often hand out flyers to offenders for free entry into drag races at the dragstrip to promote safe racing.

The venue is also known for drifting events; when it hosted D1 Grand Prix's first overseas event in D1|2003, with a sell-out crowd attendance of 10,000, it had surpassed all other events Irwindale hosted in the past, the previous being 8,700. Since then, it has become the series regular opening round in February and a non championship event in December and has also hosted a round of the domestic series, Formula D. The venue has been expanded to accommodate 15,000 spectators. The circuit is regarded as one of the most popular courses for crowds and drivers despite the unforgiving concrete wall which drivers usually brush through with their rear bumpers. Because of its popularity, the circuit is nicknamed the "House of Drift".

The 2003 Guinness Book of World Records lists the fastest-ever top speed of a radio-controlled car as 111 mph (178.63 km/h) set by Cliff Lett of Associated Electrics. Lett, a Team Associated professional driver and one of the designers and developers of the aforementioned RC10, set the record with a heavily modified Associated RC10L3 touring car at Irwindale Speedway on January 13, 2001.

References

External links

* [http://www.irwindalespeedway.com Irwindale Speedway - Official Site]